Your Right to Know

After many months of debate, Ohio lawmakers might start moving closer to a world where
local-government budgeting data are shared in a useful, transparent way.

Known as the
DataOhio Initiative, supporters say it would create a first step toward
producing online, searchable financial information from Ohio’s counties, cities and townships that
can be used to improve planning, make apples-to-apples comparisons and create a better-informed
public.

“I anticipate there will be some growing pains, but it’s the foundation of something Ohio is
desperately in need of,” said Greg Lawson, policy analyst with the Buckeye Institute for Public
Policy Solutions, which created a searchable database of public-employee salaries in 2010.

“People need to know what’s being spent, how it’s being spent, and understand how their
community compares to other communities. That has been very challenging for people to get.”

The DataOhio Initiative seeks to standardize online data reporting and catalog it through a
state website that would not house the data but would make it so people do not have to visit 900
sites to find information. The program would be voluntary but would provide $10,000 grants to local
governments as an incentive to implement the online reporting system.

“If this stuff is already public record, why would we put it on stone tablets?” said Rep. Mike
Duffey, R-Worthington, a lead sponsor of the bills. “There is just no reason not to give people the
access to it.”

The bills also would create a 15-member DataOhio Board to make recommendations to lawmakers
regarding online data access.

Some have raised fears that the public might misuse the data. The Ohio Municipal League’s Kent
Scarrett said the bills have improved, but there remains concern about what political pressure
local officials will get to opt into the initiative, and how the data will be used.

“Is this going to be strictly for public consumption? Is this being collected for private
organizations?” he said.

Thomas Fitzpatrick, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, wrote in March that
the bills “would encourage data-driven decision-making, which could yield enormous benefits for
society by better informing the decisions made by the private sector, public policymakers and
nonprofits.”

The bills also have backing from the Washington, D.C.-based Data Transparency Coalition, whose
members include Teradata of Dayton and Streamlink Software of Cleveland. Venture capitalist and
JobsOhio founder Mark Kvamme, whose wife started a company called FactGem, also was helping to
build support for the idea last year but has been less involved recently, Duffey said.

“By having an open format, it means no particular company can own that data,” Duffey said.

In mid-May, President Barack Obama signed the bipartisan DATA Act, co-sponsored by Ohio Sen. Rob
Portman, which will standardize federal-spending data and post it on a single website.

With today’s technology, Lawson said, there is no doubt it’s possible to create a common system
of online government data.

“If (local officials) can justify, based on the data, what they’re doing, people are going to
believe it and gain confidence,” he said. “If they can’t, people are right to ask questions. Now
you’ve empowered a lot of people to have information that is understandable.”